The French government is committed to supporting medium-sized businesses

The growth of medium-sized companies (MSCs) is at the heart of the French government’s strategy. Thus, Emmanuel Macron announced a new plan dedicated to supporting these companies, tackling issues in various domains such as professional training, investments, administrative relationships, and international expansion. Many of these companies are foreign-owned, including Nordic ones, and they will benefit from these new set of measures for the development of their activities in France.

Medium-sized businesses are a major brick of the French economy

The medium-sized company status is defined in France by the 2008 Act on the modernization of the economy. It corresponds to a company employing between 250 and 4,999 people, with a turnover below 1,5 billion euros. There are around 5,400 MSCs in France. Recently, Emmanuel Macron gathered 500 CEOs of such companies to present his support plan. These 500 companies alone accounted for more than 920,000 jobs and more than 170 billion euros of turnover.

The reasons why the Government is supporting medium-sized companies are obvious: they are vital to the economy, they create jobs, they invest, and they innovate. They represent 23% of R&D expenses in France and provide 25% of all jobs in the country. They often are the champions of their territory, creating and fostering economic growth of the local ecosystem through subcontractors and services.

15 measures that will allow MSCs to thrive

To allow these companies to thrive, a range of issues has already been identified: difficulty in recruitment, lack of publicity, insufficient access to funding or a complex relationship with the administration. The 15 measures of the plan were drafted to answer these issues and remove the hindrances experienced by medium-sized companies on their path to growth.  

• Offer better visibility to MSCs, with new mapping of their geographical presence, a dedicated label and a roadshow organized in 2020.  
• Facilitate contact with the administration, with personalized fiscal and social support, as well as the appointment of a State servant tasked to represent them at the head of the State.   
• Provide assistance in training strategies, with the inclusion of their needs in higher education policies or access to better worker incentive programs.  
• Reinforce the development tools and services, with the renewed help of administrative agencies (Business France, etc.), the aids for their digital transformation and the structuring of ecosystems.
  

Some ambitious objectives, that fit the pro-business agenda of the Government.

The commitment of the Government for medium-sized companies aims at fostering the development of these businesses and allow new ones to reach this level of growth. Moreover, it is designed to restore their attractiveness for talents and foreign investment.

This plan is part of the pro-business agenda of the Government, as the Productive Pact that will also be unveiled in the coming weeks. It is also worth noting that MSCs took advantage of the reforms implemented since 2017 such as the decrease in corporate taxes, the flexibilization of the job market or the flat tax for capital revenues. They are also the target of the so-called “Territoire d’Industrie” initiative, which is a list of 146 sites across France where local actors with proven know-how are putting a focus on the development and growth of their industrial sites.